Freema Agyeman, Naveen Andrews, Daryl Hannah, And More Join the Cast of the Wachowskis’ New Netflix Show

Last time we told you about Netflix’s upcoming sci-fi limited series Sense8, a collaboration between the Wachowski siblings and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, we were excited, because intriguing plot about a diverse group of people sharing some mysterious mental connection! But we were also a little apprehensive, because let’s avoid the “Magical Negro” trope, please and thank you. The new info we have neither confirms nor denies that Sense8 goes down that path—we’ll have to wait for the actual show for that—but it does help on the excitement front. We’re looking at alumni from Doctor Who, Lost, Stargate Universe, and more, plus a synopsis provided by Straczynski.

“The series follows eight characters around the world who, in the aftermath of a tragic death, find themselves linked to each other mentally and emotionally. They can not only see and talk to each other as though they were in the same place, they have access to each other’s deepest secrets. Not only must they figure out what happened and why and what it means for the future of humanity, they must do so while being hunted by an organization out to capture, kill or vivisect them.”

According to Deadline those eight characters (reminder: “a closeted Mexican telenovela hunk, an Icelandic party girl, a German safe-cracker, a Korean businesswoman, an African bus driver and a transgender American blogger” are six of them) will be played by Smith, Middleton, Ameen, Bae, Silvestri, Desae, Riemelt, and Clayton. Something tells me we’ll be looking at Andrews, Agyeman, and Hannah in guest roles. There are two other major characters we’ve heard about so far: “an apparently magic African-American who appears to all of the ‘visionaries,’ and his evil counterpart, Mr. Whispers.”